Blatant lies in PA anti vaping video. Article uses 2015 youth data. Aitkin County, MN drops flavor ban. San Antonio wants a public use ban EVERYWHERE & more!
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio/video versions of this post!
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TOBACCO CONTROL
Blatant Lies in Pennsylvania Anti Vaping Video
We’ve seen a lot of bad videos about vaping and nicotine, but this one from Michael Fiorelli of Adagio Health in Pennsylvania is particularly bad — full of misinformation and even outright lies from beginning to end, including:
“You’ve got issues with oral cancers and throat cancers” with vaping;
“Diacetyl…causes what’s called EVALI;”
“We see people who are developing what’s called popcorn lung” (ironic that he says earlier that diacetyl causes EVALI,)
and that lung transplants are “coming about more and more as time goes on with vaping.”
While videos such as these are unlikely to keep youth from trying vaping, they can be quite effective in scaring at-risk adults who smoke away from switching to far safer alternatives. Nice going, Adagio Health.
EVALI wasn’t from diacetyl. “Popcorn Lung” is. You don’t even understand the topic you spend most of your time discussing.
— Matt Culley (@MattFromSMM) April 11, 2024
WATCH: Vaping as dangerous as smoking says Mike Fiorelli of Adagio Health
IN THE MEDIA
Telling the Truth About EVALI
After that last bit of EVALI misinformation, it’s refreshing to read a mainstream media article about EVALI that tells the truth about vitamin E acetate in (mostly illicit) cannabis vapes and doesn’t still try to implicate nicotine vaping products. Kudos to the writer, Emily Earlenbaugh!
This is a good one to share with people who are still pushing that false narrative.
The wackiest part of the Australian vape laws and EVALI, is that our useless lot have banned flower vapes and used it as the cover story. As usual, no local media are across the very important differences. https://t.co/NNhoq0JeIC
— Marijuana (@marijuanacomau) August 21, 2024
READ MORE: 2% Of EVALI Cases Are Fatal—Some Cannabis Vaping Has Lower Risk
Anti-Vaping Propaganda Piece Uses 2015 Data
This article claims vaping has “become a big problem in Wyoming” and has a video filled with unverified, misleading and false claims. But is there evidence to support the claim that vaping has recently become a “big problem” in Wyoming?
The reporter uses the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) as their source. However, the high school vaping rate shown on the CTFK Wyoming page is data from nearly a decade ago, because Wyoming hasn’t participated in the CDC Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System (YRBSS) since 2015.
(See: https://wysac.uwyo.edu/wyomingtobacco/2019/09/20/youth-tobacco-use/)
“With Wyoming following the national tobacco/nicotine use trends in the past, it’s not unreasonable to surmise that the Wyoming vaping rates have declined similarly to the national rate.”
Additionally, that 29.6% of “current users” mentioned in the article is actually counting youth who vaped “even one puff in the past 30 days.” In 2015, youth curiosity of vaping was growing fast because it was something new. Most teens may have just happened to have tried it once or twice in the month before the survey. This is supported by the fact that the “frequent use” rate (vaped on 20 or more days in the past month) was just 5.1% and the “daily” rate was just 3.4%.
In 2015, the YRBSS reported that the national “past 30 day” high school vaping rate was 24.1%, which dropped to 18% in 2021 (the most recent year available on the CDC website.) The 2015 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 16% of high school youth had tried vaping in the past 30 days. In 2023 that had dropped to 10%.
According to the above linked article:
“Between 2001 and 2015, the smoking rates for Wyoming and U.S. students declined. The trend among Wyoming high school students is similar to the national trend.”
With Wyoming following the national tobacco/nicotine use trends in the past, it’s not unreasonable to surmise that the Wyoming vaping rates have declined similarly to the national rate.
And let’s not forget that — despite the claim made in the video that “vaping makes it much more likely that kids will smoke real cigarettes later” — the surveys show that, as vaping has risen, youth smoking has declined. In 2015, the national high school cigarette smoking rate was 9.3% and that dropped to 1.6% by 2023 (NYTS). The YRBSS also shows a decline, from 10.8% in 2015 to 3.8% in 2021.
READ MORE: Vaping has actually become a big problem in Wyoming
LEGISLATION
Slippery Slope of Public Use Bans
As drafted, State Senator Joe Gruters’ (R – District 22) bill would prohibit smoking of any kind (and vaping) in all areas open to the public, including streets, sidewalks and parks.
“I’m not a big fan of smoking of any kind anywhere,” he said. “I think it infringes on my quiet enjoyment of when I’m out in the public.”
He knows that there’s no evidence of health risks from tobacco smoke outside (and definitely no evidence of risk from vapor,) so it’s all about his own “quiet enjoyment.” But other things can impact “quiet enjoyment” in public, too. What about heavy perfume? Body odor? Cooking smells? Vehicle exhaust?
Clearly this is not just about disliking things that smell. It’s more likely about disliking people who smoke and vape.
At this rate, with more and more rules and laws banning indoor smoking and vaping in private residences such as rentals, condos and assisted living units, pretty soon adults who smoke or vape won’t have ANY place that they can have quiet enjoyment of their preferred product.
Funny how, decades ago, they told us that claims of a “slippery slope” to a full ban of smoking was “just a conspiracy theory.”
Floridians will vote in November on an amendment to legalize recreational marijuana use in the state. Now Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters wants to ban smoking in public if the amendment passes. So much for the GOP being the party for personal freedoms. https://t.co/uzC5ajUiCk
— Ray Loewe (@rloewe65) August 16, 2024
READ MORE: Joe Gruters wants Florida to ban public smoking if voters legalize recreational weed
Flavor Ban Dropped in Aitkin County
The Aitkin County Board (MN) unanimously passed an amended tobacco ordinance at its Aug. 13 meeting without the proposed prohibition of selling any flavored tobacco or vaping products.
“I’m not a fan of tobacco, but I am a fan of adults’ right to choose.”
~ Commissioner Travis Leiviska.
After learning that some businesses selling the products did not receive a letter of notification and discovering the financial impact on many businesses, the ban was removed from the amended ordinance.
READ MORE: Flavor ban removed from updated tobacco ordinance
Pushing Public Use Bans with Lies
The lies about “health risks” used to support indoor vaping bans — and the bans themselves — discourage adults who smoke from switching to these far safer alternatives. How is people continuing to smoke better for public health?
This proposed indoor (and outdoor) ban in San Antonio is pulling out all of the classics from the misinformation bag.
The City Council’s Community Health Committee voted on August 19th to bring the proposed ban to the full council next month.
Members of the committee “needed zero convincing” after Claude Jacob, health director for the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, apparently misled them by stating that “the concentration of toxicants in these aerosols poses an increased risk to the health of bystanders.”
In truth, there’s no convincing evidence that exhaled vapor poses a reasonable risk to bystanders.
And it’s still stupid.
— PⒸг (@bloodless_coup) August 22, 2024
READ MORE: San Antonio weighs adding vapes to its indoor smoking ban
RESEARCH
Scientists Should Be Able to Admit When They’re Wrong
“I had the impression that my whole world was crumbling. I tried desperately to reject this new evidence. But then he did what all good scientists should do: he set aside his bruised ego (presumably after polishing off that drink) and got back to work.”
Tobacco Control scientists and researchers should take heed of this advice when it comes to their knee-jerk resistance to tobacco harm reduction.
Egos resist change, even when evidence demands it. Medical pros and politicians struggle to admit mistakes—especially on vaping. Honest reflection is key for progress and combatting misinformation. #Vaping #HarmReductionhttps://t.co/34sl0A4YjE
— Timothy Vermillion (@Dr_Vermillion) August 23, 2024
READ MORE: Science Improves When People Realize They Were Wrong
Ignoring the Good News
What articles like these don’t seem to want the public to know is how past-30-day high school smoking in West Virginia had dramatically and unexpectedly dropped 12 percentage points from 19.6% in 2013 to 7.6% in 2021 (YRBSS). Compare that to the previous 8 year time period when smoking dropped by only 5.7 points from 25.3% in 2005 to 19.6% in 2013.
Daily smoking (thought by many experts to be a better indication of actual dependency) dropped from 6.7% to 1.2% between 2013 and 2021. Past-30-day #vaping has also declined from 31.2% in 2015 to 27.5% in 2021.
Nationally, past-30-day high school smoking has dropped from 18.1% in 2011 to 3.8% in 2021 and vaping has declined from 24.1% in 2015 to 18% in 2021(YRBSS).
If the CDC believes there is “the urgent need for more effort to reduce smoking, especially in adolescents,” then maybe the fact that “teenagers are adopting vaping without prior cigarette smoking experience” should be good news rather than “troubling?” Of course, no one wants teens to use any kind of drug or alcohol, but the evidence so far suggests that those teens who otherwise would be starting smoking today are at least choosing low risk vaping instead – and not going on to smoke cigarettes.
A new report from the American Lung Association reveals West Virginia has the worst rates of smoking in the nation for adults and high school students.https://t.co/JRTVESHnqR
— Emily Rice (@EmilyRiceWVPB) January 24, 2024
READ MORE: West Virginia ranks among top states for teen tobacco use, ranks #1 for e-cigarette usage
Youth Tobacco/Nicotine Use Continues to Decline
“These results are particularly relevant as Maryland lawmakers have recently considered banning the sale of flavored tobacco and vapor products. While such measures aim to prevent youth access to age-restricted products, they may also inadvertently restrict adult access to safer alternatives to smoking.”
~ Lindsey Stroud (@lmstroud89)
Debunking the Gateway Theory
“The original gateway hypothesis, [Dr. Arielle Selya] noted, described use of legal substances (like tobacco and alcohol) leading to illicit substances, often starting with cannabis and then progressing to “harder” drugs. Concerns about cannabis being a “gateway drug” influenced marijuana policy for decades.
That original gateway hypothesis has been “debunked,” Dr. Selya pointed out, but the version applied to vapes is very much alive—despite exhibiting similar flaws.”
~ Kiran Sidhu, Filter Magazine
This says a lot, and so does the rest of the article. Read it.
Thank you @ArielleSelya & @KiranSidhu41 & @Filtermag_org
Can the Theory of Youth Vaping as “Gateway” to Smoking Be Put to Bed?https://t.co/7rM81InaUR pic.twitter.com/oZ4h3qUGY1
— Phil (@phil_w888) August 20, 2024
READ MORE: Can the Theory of Youth Vaping as “Gateway” to Smoking Be Put to Bed?
Real people. Real Stories.
“Anecdote” #13,544:
Without access to the vaping options that worked for her—such as pleasant flavors and non-nicotine liquids—Patricia would likely still be smoking today. Adults who smoke depend on these products. What happens if those products are then banned?
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